Showdown Bandit: Haunted By The Past
by Stephanie Nova Rose Allen
Summary: It has been years since freedom has been given to us. But, it was a new change this time. A new story is brought to us. This time, a new person came onto the spotlight. With a few new and old friends, they venture into the darkness of the studio, to uncover the secret of what is lurking in the shadows. But, remember these rules: play your part, guard your strings, and don't look up
1. Enter The Studio

It was a dark place, as there was nothing inside.

Until the sound of the knob unlocking broke the silence inside, as it opened, shining some light inside the pitch-black room.

The sunlight revealed a tall shadow, with long hair.

A sigh came from the figure, which sounded like a female, until she stepped into the darkness, as her eyes glowed slightly.

The eyes are in a steel-blue color and looked focused instead of scared.

The figure closed the door behind her back, as it sealed into darkness once more.

The different pairs of eyes glanced side to side for a moment, before glancing down at something, as the sounds of snapping fingers echoed through the hallway.

After one snap, a small blue flame appeared in the middle of a person's hand, revealing the figure that had entered the empty place.

She has tanned almond skin, with long brown hair on the right side of her head, and multicolored wires on the left, that reaches down to her hips.

Her right arm is made of metal from underneath the sleeve of her garment.

She is wearing a cameo blue sweater, in the colors of peacock, sky, white, dark blue, and the hems are in a frost blue color, that reaches down to her hips.

The female also wears blue jeans and a pair of white and pink shoes with white shoelaces.

On her face is dark blue and black glasses that have square-shaped rims.

She glanced around a few times with her eyes, as her left hand was out in front of her.

Her left hand is holding the flame that she had created for a source of light.

It was floating in the middle of her palm, which is not made of metal.

She moved the flame in front of her body, seeing a long strip of a hallway that leads to nowhere at the other end, except for more darkness.

She shuddered quietly to herself for a brief moment before continuing her way, going down the dark hallway with the blue flame in the middle of her palm.

As she walked down the corridor, she noticed how the whole place is run down, as there were posters of a show decorated on the walls.

It was titled "Showdown Bandit," as there was an image of the bandit, except the face of the person was scratched out by someone.

She felt curious about why the face of the character is scratched out, as she touched the poster with her right metal hand in wonder.

Suddenly, there were creaking noises from down the hallway, causing her to look away from the poster.

"Hello?" she called, moving her hand away from the poster up to the side of her mouth. "Who's down there?"

No response to her question.

"Excuse me?" she called, a little louder than the previous call. "Is anyone down there?"

Still, no response to her call.

Sighing, she decided to find out what made that noise, while keeping an eye out for any attacks from any creatures or beings from what she had encountered from the last time.

As she walked deeper and deeper into the dark place, she still had an eye out for any beings lurking in the dark, while looking for something.

As she went deeper and deeper, she entered a large room, which was empty and only filled with nothing inside.

She glanced around for a moment, before glancing up at the top, looking at the lights.

They were not on, and they looked like they were all missing their light bulbs.

So, she decided to search for them while taking her time looking at this place.

Turning to the left, she wandered down another hallway, except shorter, and there was a door at the end.

Once she had opened the door, she noticed it was filled with posters, but some of them were about a single character, that is the Undertaker.

She glanced over at the desk and noticed the light bulb there on top of it.

The female picked it up in her hand and looked at it for a moment, before exiting out of the room, heading back to the chamber.

She glanced up at the lights, before back at the light bulb in her hand that she had gotten.

Extinguishing the flame in her left hand, she disappeared into the darkness, before there was the sound of the wooden ground creaking, squeaking into place, then the ground gently creaked again.

The sound of snapping fingers snapped again, and the flame appeared, as the female glanced up, seeing that the light bulb that was in her hand is back in its socket.

She glanced over at the left again, thinking to herself for a moment.

Then she looked to the right, wondering if there is a room there.

So, she walked over towards that side, heading towards the next hallway.

She found it and walked down it, noticing it was more different from the last one.

Soon, she reached the end of the hallway, noticing the door was scratched to nothing, as the name of the room was scratched out too.

A bad feeling twisted in her stomach when she noticed that, but shrugged it off her shoulders and opened the door, entering inside the room.

When she entered the room, it was all scratched all over the place, as there was scratched out words like "Liar," "Kidnapper," "Monster," and "We Want To Be Free" decorating all over the walls.

She looked surprised about this as she glanced around the room, wondering what could have done this?

But, she found the light bulb on the desk, which is the last piece of the spotlights.

Walking over to it, she picked up into her hand, before a voice creepily spoke from behind her back, "_**You are not supposed to be here…**_"

That voice startled her that she flinched as she whipped around to see who whispered that line into her ear.

But no one was behind her back.

She sighed and placed the light bulb in her pocket, placing a hand on the side of her temple, rubbing it gently.

"Maybe my allergies are kicking in…" she softly muttered to herself. "Although I'm not too sure if they are still there…"

She paused for a moment after she had mumbled to herself before removing her hand from her temple, deciding to complete the task that she needs to finish.

After getting the light bulb, she walked back out to the stage but keeping an eye out for any more strange things that are going on around the place.

Once again, she stood underneath one of the spotlights and extinguished the flame that was in her left hand, as there were the same sounds of the floorboards creaking, squeaking noises, then the creaking again.

The sound of snapping fingers snapped again, and the flame appeared in the middle of the girl's palm, as she was looking up at the spotlights, now having the light bulbs inside.

She looked around for the light switch, before finding it, that was right next to a stage.

Curious, she walked over to it, staring at it for a moment while hesitating, remembering that the same thing happened again when she was on one of her adventures about this show that went down too, except characters came to life from paper.

She had a feeling that this was going to happen again like last time, except more different from what she expected.

But, she took a deep breath and flipped the switch, preparing herself for anything happening.

Nothing happened after she had flipped the switch.

Confused, she decided to look at what happened, wondering if she had accidentally got dud light bulbs instead.

Sighing, she got onto the stage as it creaked underneath from her slight weight, as she went into the middle, looking at both of the spotlights.

Suddenly, the spotlights turned on, emitting beams of bright lights that blinded her eyes.

She yelped in startlement slightly as she extinguished her flame in her palm, lifting her arms up to cover her eyes from the bright light.

Then, children's laughter echoed through the place, as she slowly removed her arms, seeing there are hooded figures, covering each seat of the stage.

Each one is wearing red hooded robes with yellow laces in the front.

They each wear a white mask held on by a piece of elastic string.

The mask itself appears to have a frown, and what could be brown stains on some noticeable areas.

Her heart was beating fast against her ribcage as she gazed at the strange audience, wondering who they are and how they got into the studio.

But before she could ask the audience, something loomed over her head, causing her to stiffen a bit from the sudden shadow.

Bravely, she glanced up to the ceiling to see who is standing above her.

But as soon as she looked up at the ceiling to see someone, she immediately looked terrified, and her face went pale.

Above her was a tall figure, with glowing white eyes and a creepy smile on its face.

Its right hand was sticking out, as it looked like it was about to snatch her up from the stage as it hovered over her head.

Taking her chances, she was about to get off the stage as fast as she can, when she suddenly felt something connect to her right wrist.

Glancing over to her wrist, she noticed a long piece of string was connected to her arm.

Confused, she tried to get her arm to be released by it by yanking her arm from the string, but it was stuck to her.

Then, another string was connected to her left wrist, as she frantically tried releasing her arms by yanking.

Soon, her legs were connected to the strings, as she frantically tried releasing her limbs from them, worried about being the next victim of this "show" that she had created.

As she strained to release her arms, she felt something attached to the top of her head, causing her to be lifted up into the air, as she cried out.

A creepy child's song was played in the background, as the audience continued cheering and somehow calling out her name repeatedly, with something added along at the end of her name.

She felt terrified at this point and wanted to get out of this place.

But, a burning sensation went through her, causing her to cry out again in pain from it, before gritting her teeth, overcoming the suffering.

"_Stephanie, the cowgirl,_" the audience continued repeating, as the voices sounded like children. "_Stephanie, the cowgirl, Stephanie the-_"

Suddenly, the calling stopped, along with a burning sensation, as Stephanie released her teeth, almost on the verge of passing out as she just limped there in the air, hanging by the strings connected to her.

Whispers were echoing around her from the audience, as she slowly glanced over to see who came from her left side.

Her vision was slightly blurry from seeing who is coming up, but she can make some details of the figure.

The figure was small, but wearing a hat with a long black cloak, with the face unknown and holding a scythe in their hand.

It was slightly dim, so she thinks that death had finally come for her.

The footsteps of the person were heading towards her before stopping inches away.

Then, the sound of something sharp scraped across the wooden floor of the ground, perking Stephanie's senses.

But instead of ending her misery of being on the stage, the person quickly lunged at Stephanie, and the giant figure's hand, and in one move, they slashed at the strings connected to her, as she dropped to the ground.

After she landed on the ground with a thunk, landing on her side while watching the battle.

Stephanie watched as the figure slashed at the hand with the scythe in their hands, dodging and attacking at the same time.

There was loud demonic shrieking from the being as scratches went all over the hand, as it moved back a few times before at him, looking like it was trying to smack them away.

Blood dribbled from the wounds while the figure attacked it, while the hand tried smacking them, trying to get to her.

After the last slash of the scythe, the giant figure disappeared into thin air, along with the audience that just watched the battle in the background.

The old poster of the scenes was scratched too from the battle, along with the ground.

While Stephanie was going into darkness, she watched as the scythe-wielding figure slowly turned around to her, as she noticed that he had no face, and covered in scratches.

1


	2. The Showdown Bandit

Stephanie woke up after being knocked out for a long time, feeling a bit groggily and has a slight tingling sensation all over her body.

It was not too much of a tingle, but it was just a little tickle.

Groaning, she slowly flipped over to her back, staring up at the ceiling in wonder, noticing that she was somewhere else than the stage that she was on.

Mentally, she cursed at herself for her stupidity of setting up the stage.

She was trying to turn on the lights to see what is going on around the place.

After laying on her back for a while, she slowly sat up to her bottom.

But while doing so, she felt a bit dizzy from being knocked out for a long time, causing her to wobble a bit.

After sitting up straight, she placed her hands on the ground, waiting a few minutes for her mind to relax a bit.

During that time, she glanced down at her wrists in thought, remembering those strings connecting to her arms.

It was painful and terrifying at the same time for her to be on that stage again to be controlled.

After her dizziness went away, she slowly got up to her feet, as her legs wobbled a bit from being a little sore, but managed to get up to her feet.

She stumbled a bit after getting to her feet but managed to stand up straight, rubbing the back of her back with her right hand.

After standing up to her feet, she removed her hand from her back and glanced around.

She noticed she was in a mid-dark room.

There was some darkness around, but there was light from behind her back.

Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed it was a light bulb over her head, as there was a medium length string attached to it to turn it off.

It felt old-fashioned to Stephanie as she recalled those from the movies she usually watches.

Deciding to get out of where she is, she took a couple of steps forward, until she felt the ground underneath her right foot dropped suddenly, causing her to yelp and stumble.

Luckily, she managed to get her balance back and stepped back, noticing there was a long drop.

Confused, she slowly went down to her knees and peeked over the side, seeing there was a long drop from where she is, to the ground.

Snapping her fingers of her left hand, she made a small, light blue flame in her hand and moved it down, noticing she was standing on top of a worn-down desk.

She moved her hand back up to her and sat back up, feeling absolutely confused about how did this happen.

Then, Stephanie remembered that attack of that mysterious person and how he tried to make her into a puppet of his own.

Maybe that person was halfway through it, and she shrank down only some inches?

Walking over to the wall on the side of the desk, she laid her back against it and measured with her hand.

After marking her height with her clawed finger, she moved back from the wall, as her left eye made a diagram of herself next to the desk.

Since she was only 6 ft tall and 2 inches tall, her height now after that attack was only 14 inches tall.

Stephanie sighed as the diagram disappeared, feeling annoyed about that guy shrinking her down to 14 inches.

But, if she wants to get back to her average height, she has to go through the studio to find that responsible person.

Walking over to the side of the desk, she extinguished the flame in her left hand and brought out her nails, which was the size of cat claws instead of tigers.

After bringing her claws out, she hooked them on the side of the desk, deep enough for her to climb safely.

Then, she slowly turned herself around and hooking the other one below the first one that she placed.

Slowly, she climbed down to the ground, hooking one hand below the other, while her feet dangle below her body.

Once she had reached the ground, she placed her feet down and unhooked her left hand, then her right.

Retracting her nails, she snapped her fingers of her left hand, emitting the small blue flame in her palm, looking up at the tall door that kept her inside.

Moving the flame to her right hand, the color of it turned into a light red color, as she lifted her left hand up to the doorknob.

"_Reserare,_" she spoke, sounding like a spell as she twisted her wrist as if she was unlocking a door.

After saying that word and twisting her wrist at the same time, the door clicked as it opened slightly for her, as a soft creak emitted from it.

She sighed and moved her hand down while moving the flame from her right hand to the left, the color changing back to a blue color.

After unlocking the door, she cautiously stepped over to it, putting her right hand against it, and peeked over the edge, peering down the dark hallway.

Stephanie bit her bottom lip nervously at the thought of going through the hallway in the first place, but took a deep breath and slowly exited out of the room.

Once she had stepped out of that room, she stared down the hallway for a moment, wondering to herself of what could be lurking deep into the studio.

So, she gathered her courage and stepped into the darkness.

Holding the flame in her hand as a torch for her to see, Stephanie walked down the pitch-black hallway.

Since that attack from her carelessness, she kept her guard up in case of another attack from something else.

She turned corners and stepped over objects, heading deeper and deeper into the darkness, heading towards the unknown.

Just as she was about to turn the corner, she heard something clanked.

Immediately, her senses caused her to stop in her tracks, looking around for any signs that something in the darkness is here.

Quickly extinguishing the flame in her left hand, she went back into the darkness, while placing her back against the wall she is hiding behind.

Blinking her eyes once, the color of her eyes changed into a light steel-blue color, as the vision changed into night vision.

Slowly, the thumping came closer to her, as she prepared herself for the attacks.

But, she noticed something different about that thumping noise that was coming straight towards her.

It sounded like it was coming from the ground.

Glancing down at the ground, she noticed a puppet was walking by where she was.

The puppet is more damaged with multiple scratches and deep cuts, especially on the head.

It wears a cape with string wrapped around their chest, elbow, upper arm, left thigh, and its lower leg.

Their face is painted white with a big frown and eye holes that seem to have been painted over.

A single black tear has also been painted next to their right eye.

They also have a scissor blade taped onto their right hand, looking like they are ready to attack her at any chance.

But, the ironic thing about attack her, is that it was about the length of her arm.

A soft giggle came from her as she watched the damaged puppet walked away from where she is, as the thumping came from its leg while holding that tapped scissor half in its hand.

She watched the way it walked, hobbling as it lifted its leg and coming down, thumping along the way, before disappearing.

After the Stringless and damaged puppet disappeared, Stephanie turned the corner and continued her way, this time, without using her flame to light the way.

She continued walking down the hallway, keeping an eye out for any of those Stringless and damaged puppets that she noticed earlier.

Then, she entered a large room, which had a light inside luckily, and there was something inside that place.

Blinking her eyes again, they changed back into her average steel-blue eye color, now not seeing in night vision.

The room was large and had velvet-lined boxes scattered all over the place.

Some of them were ripped open, and others were opened, looking like someone or something was looking for what they wanted.

Stephanie peeked into one of the ripped open boxes after kneeling down to her knee, seeing the inside of it was also torn.

The size of the slices was about the length of a hand-made scythe.

'It must've been that guy who saved me…' she thought to herself, moving her hands away from the box. 'Why would they want to look for more? '

She stood up to her feet and glanced over at the other ripped open boxes.

'Maybe trying to bring up an army to fight against that person that shrunk me?' she continued thinking to herself.

Stephanie continued walking as she looked at all the boxes until she noticed something odd from the back of the room.

She turned her body towards that way of the odd place and looked at the bookshelf, wondering to herself for a moment.

Using her right hand, she reached behind the bookcase, gently running her fingers through it in thought, looking for something that is hidden behind it.

After a few minutes of feeling, she felt something touch against her pinky, that felt like a lever for her to pull down.

Gently gripping the lever in her hand, she pushed it down, as a soft click came from it after she released it and moved back.

The bookcase then slides to the left, revealing a secret passway that leads to a different room than the one that Stephanie is inside.

It had a light inside too over Stephanie's head, and there was another one of those boxes.

Except this box was not destroyed or ripped, unlike the others that she had seen.

Stephanie entered the secret room and over to the box, wondering to herself for a moment.

She wondered what could be inside that box, having a second thought if it was that puppet earlier that have saved her from becoming one.

So, she decided to unlock it to see what or who could be inside.

With her hands, she unlocked the box from the side, before slowly opening it.

She does not know if the same puppet who had saved her was inside this box or not, so she prepared herself for the slashing of the hand-made scythe.

As soon as she opened it, something fell out, landing on its front.

It startled Stephanie as she jumped a little, but relaxed when she noticed it was a different puppet.

Using her hand, she gently wrapped her fingers around the puppet's middle, lifting it up to its feet as it limped.

The puppet is 6 inches tall, reaching to the top of her knee, and looked like the character from the posters she encountered.

The puppet has a slightly pale wooden skin with orange hair and two red marks on both cheeks, and a cut along the right side of his face, with two silver staples holding up his jaw.

He wears a black hat with holes and a purple band on top of his head, which did not fall off his head when he fell forward.

A red bandanna is around his neck and also wears a purple shirt with rolled-up sleeves underneath a black vest with red trim and two gold buttons on the right side.

He also wears a belt with the same pattern and dark brown pants and boots.

The puppet looked limped as he drooped, not able to make any movements or try to get out of her grip.

Worried, she reached over to him with the other hand, gently putting a finger underneath his chin and lifted his head up to let him look at her, hoping that this puppet is alive like the other that she had seen before.

After she gently lifted his head up to look at him eye to eye, he had his eyes closed, looking like he was asleep as he just limped.

Soon, after a while of waiting for him to wake up, his fingers twitched a bit, causing Stephanie to perk up a bit, relieved that he is alive.

He placed his wooden hands on hers, groggily blinking his eyes as she gently moved her finger away from him.

After she removed her finger away from the bottom of his chin, he shook his head a bit, blinking a few times to get the sleepiness out of his eyes.

Then, he looked a little confused when he noticed something, before glancing down at what is wrapped around his middle.

The expression from underneath his hat looked confused for a moment before Stephanie decided to pick him up from the ground, startling him as his hands gripped against the metal skin of her hand.

After picking him up from the ground, he now sees her as she stood up to her height, gently holding him in her grip as he looked terrified, shaking like a leaf now in her hand.

"Hey, are you alright?" she softly asked, reaching up with her left hand towards him as he whimpered quietly to himself, pulling his head away from her hand weakly.

Instead of forcing him to let Stephanie touch him or grab his head roughly, she instead understood his fear and stopped reaching for his head, looking a bit hurt from his fear.

"Hey, it's okay." she softly spoke, moving her hand underneath his bottom this time, holding him like if he was a child compared to her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

He looked a bit confused from the gentleness that she is doing, just gently holding him in her hands, as her metal hand was wrapped around his middle, expecting her to smash him into oblivion if he disobeyed her commands.

Instead, she just held him in her hands, without any signs of sudden betrayal.

His grip on her hand suddenly loosened, feeling really weak to fight against a tall human.

She noticed that from how he was limping, looking worried for him.

"Are you alright?" she asked, moving her left hand from underneath his bottom, letting his legs dangle again as she scanned all over his body for any signs of damage or burning. "Where are you hurt?"

He could not say anything to him since how much strength had left him but said nothing.

She continued looking all over his body for any signs until she noticed the strings connected to him to move him around are snapped.

"Oh, the strings…" she spoke before drifting off, looking a bit quiet about them as he looked confused.

She was quiet as she stared at them for a moment, before sighing.

"Let's try something else instead of using them again." she softly spoke, squatting down to the ground. "It's a bit of a hassle to use strings."

He still looked confused from her conversation to herself, as she noticed it, deciding to explain everything to him after getting the strings off of him.

She crossed her legs after sitting down on the ground before placing the puppet down on his back.

After she had released her fingers from around his body, Stephanie was expecting him to run away from her.

But to her slight surprise, he instead stayed still on the spot he was placed on, looking suspicious about her.

She shrugged to herself slightly, telling herself this is what she gets all the time.

Suspicious looks and not trusting her after she had either rescued that person or greets them.

Using her left hand, she gently pinched the snipped end of the string, lifting his right arm up.

At first, he panicked a little, thinking that she was going to connect him to her fingers instead, when she instead lifted her right hand up, moving her fingers into a snipping position as if she was using them like scissors.

And, just like that, they transformed into scissors after a moment, startling him as he flinched a bit in startlement.

"Don't worry about it." She softly spoke, moving the fingers-that-transformed-into-scissors down to his wrist where the other end of the string is connected. "I'm not going to hurt you."

Being careful as she could, she gently snipped the remaining string off his wrist, allowing the limp arm to flop back down on the ground with a clunk noise.

"That's one limb down," she mumbled to herself, as she watched the string pinched between her fingers disappeared. "And more to go."

She did the same thing to the other remaining strings connected to him, pinching it and lifting it, before snipping it off close to his limb to be gone forever.

Then, the last one is the string connected to the top of his head, as she pinched it gently, lifting his head up.

Using her scissor-fingers, she moved them close to the top of his hat, as he winced softly to himself, hoping she would not make the mistake of accidentally cutting him.

But, she did not and only snipped the last string off of him, allowing his head to collapse back on the ground with a wooden thud, as the hat that was on him came off, revealing the top of his head.

She sighed as the last twine disappeared from between her fingers, finally allowing the little puppet to be free from the strings.

Her fingers of her right hand transformed back into average fingers, before using one of them to push her glasses into place from the nose bridge.

"Can you move now since you don't have those pesky strings connected to you?" she asked, gently tapping his side with her right hand.

She waited for a moment for any noises from him or movements, but nothing happened.

Stephanie gently sighed when he gave a look that he could not get up.

So, she reached down to him again, this time, scooping him up from the back as he sat up on his bottom.

His hat was still off, but she reached behind him with her left hand, gently picking it up and placing it on top of his head, just like how it is.

"Alright, hold still for a moment," she warned, moving her legs from sitting to kneeling, one knee on the ground. "I have an idea."

Using her two fingers of her left hand, she gently placed the tips against his chest as he looked confused about what she was doing to him this time.

"_Sana,_" she spoke in a different language, as he looked confused by what she said.

Before he could ask what she was doing, he felt a gentle feeling of warmth, while his strength was slowly returning to him.

After the last of the warmth feeling stopped, Stephanie gently removed her fingers from his chest as he moved his hands up to his face, seeing that the strings were not there anymore.

"Now how do you feel?" she curiously asked, smiling gently.

He glanced down at his hands, with a slight thoughtful expression on his face.

"I feel…" he softly spoke, moving his fingers. "Different…"

His voice had a western-like accent in it like how cowboys would sound like.

With an assuring smile on her face, Stephanie moved him up more to her face, assuring him and gently as she could.

"You're going to have to get used to that." Stephanie sighed, gently patting his back with her finger. "It's going to take a while too."

He glanced up at her after she had assured him, looking confused about her kindness.

"I appreciate yer help, ma'am." He thanked, tipping his hat a little with his hand. "I always wanted those strings off o' me."

"No problem," she smiled. "What's your name, though? Mine is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

"My name is Showdown Bandit," he answered, tipping his hat again. "But my friends used t' call me Bandit."

"'Friends?'" Stephanie curiously asked. "There are more people here?"

"Not really." Bandit sighed, removing his hand from the brim of his hat. "I don't know if they survived in thuh first place."

Curious, Stephanie gently wrapped her fingers around his middle again and lifted him up to her face, as he looked a bit nervous about her.

"Start in the beginning, Bandit," she spoke, sounding a bit stern but concerned. "What happened before I met you."

He paused for a moment after she had asked him, but began his story of what happened.

"Alright, I remember that I was with Ms. Undertaker 'nd thuh Sheriff t' fight against thuh One Who Pulls Thuh Strings." Bandit explained as Stephanie listened to him. "We were just about t' be free from 'em when somethin' suddenly cut thuh strings that were connected t' us, causin' us t' be weak against 'em."

Curious, Stephanie asked, "Who cut them?"

"I don't know." Bandit sighed, placing a wooden hand on the side of his head. "I passed out after my strings were cut off from me. I don't know what happened t' Ms. Undertaker or thuh Sheriff, but I do hope that they both survived from bein' attacked by thuh Stringless."

"Is the Stringless a type of puppet that is damaged?" Stephanie curiously asked, remembering seeing one walk right by her.

Bandit perked a little after Stephanie asked what they looked like.

"Mostly." Bandit spoke, answering her question. "They either looked like a spider, a monstrous being, blank, or missin' limbs! But how did ya know what they looked like?"

"I watched one walked past me." She answered. "It was hacked at from the head to the arm and leg."

Bandit's eyes widen in shock when she calmly told him that a Stringless had walked right by her without attacking her.

"Ya watched one o' thuh Grieves walked right by ya?!" he exclaimed. "How did it not see ya?! You're bigger than it!"

"Yes, but I don't know, Bandit." Stephanie calmly spoke. "Maybe since I am human, they don't attack humans than other… people."

Bandit looked a bit confused instead of surprised when she hesitated from saying, "puppets."

"Anyways," she shook her head and placed him down on the ground, onto his feet. "Let's see if you could walk without those strings attached to you."

Bandit paused for a moment as she released her fingers from around his body, allowing his weight to be on his feet.

Instead of pulling her hand away, she had it around him as if to catch him when he falls over to his face or bottom.

Carefully, he took a step forward to walk, when he wobbled a bit, causing Stephanie to move her hand in front of him.

He placed his palms on Stephanie's hand after he had wobbled, before getting his balance back.

"Do you need help?" she asked, sounding curious.

Bandit paused for a moment, before nodding his head, looking a bit sheepish.

"Alright," she moved her hand into a position where he could follow along with her hand to walk. "Walk with my hand, okay?"

Bandit nodded his head again, still having his hands on hers, as his legs were shaking a little.

Being careful, she helped him straighten his body a little, as he followed along with her hand.

Slowly, he took careful steps forward, as Stephanie patiently helped him with her hand.

"There you go." she softly smiled. "One foot before the other."

Slowly as he can, he walked towards Stephanie as her hands act like guides for him.

His legs were a bit wobbly for him, but he manages to walk without slipping or falling.

After taking a few steps, Stephanie asked, "Would you like me to remove my hand?"

He hesitated for a moment, glancing down at his feet for a moment before nodding his head yes.

Stephanie acknowledged his nod and slowly removed her right hand, as his palms removed from hers, as he was standing on his legs fully, although they were shaking a bit.

But, he managed to take a step forward, this time, without falling over onto his face or bottom.

Smiling, he took another step, before taking a couple of more.

Stephanie looks proud of him walking, smiling gently as she quietly clapped her hands together.

Mentally, she giggled to herself about acting like his mother, proud of him for walking for the first time.

It saddened her a little, but Stephanie did not show the emotion to Bandit as he continued slowly practicing how to walk.

Bandit walked up to her before turning around, running for a short while to test out his legs.

After he had walked around a bit to test them out, he walked up to Stephanie, grinning happily.

"Thanks, Steph." he thanked, tipping his hat to her. "It is best t' have a look around fer my friends if thuh Stringless gets 'em."

Stephanie nodded her head and moved her hand down, as the Bandit expected her to pick him up from around the body.

Instead, she moved it down in front of him, acting like a sit-on platform for him.

"Why don't I carry you, Bandit?" Stephanie asked, smiling gently. "It's best to stay around me since I'm a bit taller than those Stringless and as a good convertible for you to ride on."

Bandit paused for a moment from her suggestion, mentally agreeing with her since how tall she is and how gentle she was with her handling.

But the other half of his mind was hesitant about trusting her since his encounter with humans.

And how they left him behind after the show canceled that he starred in.

Sighing, he nodded his head and turned his body around, before sitting down in her palm.

He was mentally surprised at how soft the skin was of her left hand, expecting it to be hard and rough like the other people's hands that roughly grabs him.

Stephanie gently curled her hand a bit to cup around as her thumb was moved in front of him, acting like a safety bar for him.

After letting him sit down on her hand, she gently and carefully lifted him up from the ground to her height, holding him close to her body.

"How's this?" she curiously asked, using her right hand to move some hair that was covering her face.

"It's fine." Bandit responded calmly, although the tone of his voice sounded a bit confused. "If there are any Araknits around here, I'll just use my cork shot t' help ya."

He showed the gun to her, that has the same colors as him and has a small crank on the side to bring the cork back into its canister.

Mentally, Stephanie was commenting on how cute it was compared to the weapons that she sees.

"Thanks, Bandit," she smirked, gently patting the top of his head with her right hand. "I would always like some help from a friend of mine."

He looked a bit startled by what she said, but paused for a moment before smiling.

"No problem!" he smirked, winking at her and tipping his hat towards her. "I'm always here t' help ya!"

Stephanie chuckled along with Bandit, before walking out of the secret room, as it closed from behind their backs.

Bandit felt surprised at her walking is average, but not fast or careless.

After walking out of that secret room, Stephanie walked over to the other side of the real room she entered, before entering a dark hallway.

1


	3. The Darkest Parts Of The Studio

Stephanie has been wandering through the darkness for a long time.

Despite her eye color changing back into night vision for her to see, she was not too sure if the Bandit, whom she had found earlier in her adventure, could see what she is seeing.

She continued turning corners and walking down the hallways, sometimes steps over things that are on the ground, confusing the Bandit a little.

Stephanie stopped for a moment to get breath after walking for a good minute, panting a little as some sweat dripped from her forehead.

The Bandit glanced up at her from over his shoulder as his hands were on her thumb if he accidentally falls off her hand if he was not careful.

"What's wrong, Stephanie?" Bandit asked, sounding a bit worried.

"Nothing's wrong with me, Bandit," Stephanie responded, assuring the Bandit. "Just a little tired from walking around."

She paused for a moment as she panted, using the sweater sleeve of her right hand to wipe some sweat off her brow.

"I have a bad feeling in my stomach that we are walking around in circles." Stephanie sighed, glancing up at the hallway after moving her hand away from her head.

Bandit looked at what she was staring at for a moment, before back up at her.

"I have thuh same feelin' too," Bandit agreed with her, slowly nodding his head. "I don't even remember this part o' thuh studio."

Stephanie paused for a moment to herself, thinking as she placed a finger underneath her chin.

She could not use her flame powers to light the way through the darkness since she is holding Bandit in the hand that she uses.

If she did, however, she might accidentally light up Bandit into a small fireplace.

Then, an idea popped into her head as she chuckled softly to herself.

"What's so funny?" Bandit asked, looking confused.

Without answering Bandit's question, she reached to the bottom of her sweater and gripped the edge, before pulling it up, revealing her blue jeans.

Wrapped around her waist was a moss-green belt, with a dark brown buckle on the front.

Using one hand, while the other was holding the confused Bandit, she reached into her blue jeans pocket and rummaged through it, looking for something.

"Nope," she spoke, moving the sweater down and moving to the other side, lifting the hand that is holding Bandit in up, as he wrapped his right arm over her thumb in startlement as he was up in the air, but still next to her eyes. "Not there."

She reached over to the other side of her hips, lifting her sweater up and reaching into her blue jeans pocket, perking when she felt the object that she was looking for.

"Ah," she pulled the item out from her pocket, as her sweater flopped back over her blue jeans as she moves the slightly startled Bandit down from up to her eyesight. "Found it."

"Found what, Stephanie?" Bandit asked, glancing over his shoulder, slowly unwrapping his right arm from around her thumb.

"My cellphone." She answered, turning the object in her hand on, as it illuminated a bright light from the screen.

It was so bright that Stephanie forgot that her eyesight was night vision, that it caused her to blink a few times while turning away from it, while Bandit covered his eyes with his hat, tipping it down by the brim.

Her eye color changed back to their steel-blue, and with her thumb, she typed in her password, going to the home screen.

"Sorry about that, though." she apologized. "Kept forgetting to turn the light down a little."

"It's okay, Steph." Bandit responded, moving his hat up a little after Stephanie turned the light of the screen down a little. "Although I've never seen one o' those things in yer hand before. Does it do that a lot?"

"At night?" Stephanie asked, moving her cellphone in her hand up a little so that it would not accidentally blind the Bandit's eyes. "Yep. Sometimes it annoys my roommates when I do that. So, I kept the light down to let them sleep."

She clicked the 'flashlight' button on her cellphone, and a light came from the other side of the phone instead of the dimmed screen.

It revealed the long wooden hallway, covered slightly in scratches, and looked like a hallway that Stephanie usually sees in kingdoms.

They are towering over people who have wandered inside, and either covered in pictures of descents or bricks only.

It did not bother Stephanie when she was in a castle before, but now that she is shrunken down, it made her feel a bit curious about it.

After turning the flashlight on from her cellphone in her hand, she continued walking through the hallways.

Bandit in her hand was on alert in case if any Stringless was coming towards them, his pop pistol ready for action.

She continued walking through the hallway, turning and walking over holes in the ground, still holding Bandit in her hand without accidentally dropping him to the ground.

Just as she turned the corner again, she entered a separate room that the other one that she came in before.

It was much more spacious than the previous rooms she had entered and has lights inside, which was enough for Stephanie and Bandit to see clearly.

Stephanie sighed and turned the flashlight off of her phone, and placed it in her sweater pocket, instead of her blue jeans pocket.

Bandit seemed to notice something that caught Stephanie's attention as he jumped out of her hand, safely landing on the ground and running over to something.

"Where are you going?" Stephanie asked, following after him.

Bandit did not respond to her question, and turned a corner, before stopping.

Stephanie finally caught up to him and stopped behind his back, seeing there was a pile of smashed wood.

"What's this?" Stephanie curiously asked, looking confused about this strange pile.

From the rubble, she could see that a cracked sign reads, "Bank."

"Th-This used t' be Banker's station…" Bandit stammered, his voice wavering with sadness. "I thought he was gonna wait fer me here…"

Stephanie paused for a moment to herself, noticing the slightly worried tone in his voice.

"Was the banker your friend?" she asked, kneeling down to his height from behind his back.

He looked over his shoulder to her, pausing for a moment as he looked away.

Stephanie noticed the expression on his face as he had his arms crossed over his chest, looking regretful and hurt.

Then, he sighed, turning towards her as his head was dipped down a bit, covering his eyes.

"He… was a friend o' mine." he slowly spoke, not looking at her from eye to eye. "On camera, I usually play as thuh bandit who steals from thuh rich 'nd feeds thuh poor."

Stephanie continued listening to him, as she had a slightly concerned look on her face.

"But, off-stage, we were close friends." Bandit continued, finally looking up at her, with a slightly sad look on his face. "We both usually talk t' each other about how our days were going, 'nd sometimes with other friends, like Doc Carver, Ms. Undertaker, 'nd… Penny."

Stephanie's expression on her face softened a bit when he spoke about someone named 'Penny,' which made her feel sorry for him.

She reaches down to him, and being careful, she picked him up from the ground, as he just simply limped, not saying anything to her or try to get out of her grip.

Stephanie lifted him up to her height after standing up, and to the Bandit's surprise, gently hugged him.

He had never felt this before when he was on stage.

Usually, he had seen kids come up to him to see the show better, but never had a kid hugged him before.

Nor the adults too, since they were too busy to pay attention to their puppets.

Before Bandit could ask what she was doing, Stephanie instead said this to him, "You don't have to beat yourself up for losing your friends."

Bandit perked a little as she continued talking to him, before releasing their hug.

"If we are lucky enough, we could find them in one piece," Stephanie spoke, gently holding Bandit in her hands as if he were a child compared to her. "And we can solve this mystery together. Once we find that person, I'll get my height back and will let you guys be free from this studio."

"Really?" Bandit perked, looking slightly surprised.

"Yes," Stephanie nodded, this time, placing Bandit on her shoulder than holding him. "And I'm keeping that as a promise for you; having freedom from this place. Just as I promised another friend of mine that had the same situation as you guys."

Bandit continued being quiet, thinking to himself about what Stephanie said to him, placing a hand from behind Stephanie's neck from underneath her hair.

"But, we both have to work together to get what we both want," Stephanie continued speaking to him. "And, I trust you, Bandit."

"Why do ya trust me?" He asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Because you are my friend," Stephanie answered. "I know you looked confused because we met each other a long time ago, but I trust you, and you're my friend than a puppet."

Those words somehow made Bandit a little surprised, but remained quiet, thinking to himself about those words.

Stephanie decided to keep walking, so she turned the right, before entering a different place of the room.

It was more open and was filled with Showdown Bandit equipment, just like barrels, wagons, even some posters.

Stephanie walked down the long room, glancing around at the merchandise of the Bandit until she reached a door, half her size.

Sighing, she knelt down to the door's height, using only her finger and thumb, unlocking the door.

After unlocking the door, she crossed her arms in front of her, moving her shoulders close to her body.

Bandit was on one of her shoulders that she placed was against her neck, underneath her thick hair.

She squeezed through the door without destroying it, and stood back up to her height, uncrossing her arms.

Bandit sputtered some of her hair from his mouth, pushing some strands from his face, getting Stephanie's attention.

"Oops," she chuckled, moving her hair out from the Bandit's face with her hand. "Sorry. Maybe I should put my hair up in case you might be tangled in it."

"It's better than bein' tangled up in yer strings." Bandit spoke, moving the last strand of hair from his face.

Stephanie nodded her head in agreement, remembering countless times when she was tangled up into her wires whenever she uses them, acting as a puppet of herself.

Stephanie continued walking through the rooms until she reaches a bench, that was also destroyed like that station.

"That is Doc's station!" Bandit exclaimed as Stephanie knelt down to look at it. "Why would someone destroy their stations?"

"Maybe trying to make you weaker?" Stephanie guessed, shrugging her shoulders slightly. "I mean, does Doc mend people like you?"

Bandit nodded his head in response to her question, and Stephanie reached down to the pieces of the station, before picking up one of them.

"Look closely at this piece, Bandit," Stephanie spoke, showing the piece to him. "Does it look like a human did this?"

Bandit took a closer look at it, noticing the features of the damage.

"If it was a Stringless, Bandit," Stephanie spoke, describing the damage on it. "It must've left behind some notches and scratches since they carry sharp objects in their hands."

Bandit nodded his head in agreement as she continued talking and describing the damage.

"So, it's a human than the Stringless," Bandit asked, understanding what she was describing.

"Yep!" Stephanie nodded her head, placing the board down on the ground. "But, who did this is the question…?"

Bandit paused for a moment to himself, glancing away as Stephanie thought to herself, her finger against the bottom of her chin.

"Maybe it could be one o' thuh creators o' my show…" Bandit mumbled, catching Stephanie's attention.

"Your creator?" she asked as she continued walking.

"Yeah, I was created by two o' 'em." Bandit answered, explaining to her. "Their names are Buddy Bublik 'nd Carl Handler."

"What happened to them?" Stephanie asked, this time, picking Bandit up from her shoulder.

"I don't know…" Bandit responded, landing on his feet gently. "Either they both died from age after thuh years went by or may be turned into puppets."

Stephanie paused in her walking, thinking to herself for a moment.

The memory of the One Who Pulls The Strings gave her goosebumps at the thought of it, but could not remember what the person looked like.

"What about almost turned into puppets?" Stephanie softly asked, sounding a bit worried.

Bandit looked up at her from thinking to himself, having a slight unsure look on his face.

Suddenly, Stephanie felt something sharp poke against the back of her right leg, causing her to yelp from the pain, startling the Bandit as he jumped halfway off the ground.

"What's wrong?!" Bandit asked, coming over to help her.

Stephanie did not respond to his question and looked over her shoulder, seeing one of the Grieves, and it's scissor half stuck in the back of her leg.

Bandit was about to pull out his pop pistol to attack the Grief from attacking Stephanie when she instead kicked it with the back of her foot, sending it in the distance, smashing into pieces after it landed on the ground.

Stephanie hissed in pain as she knelt down to the ground in front of Bandit, her right hand squeezing her leg to stop the bleeding.

"Wh-where did it stab ya?!" Bandit panicked, looking at her leg where it had stabbed her after moving his hand away from his pop pistol.

"L-Look in the back, Bandit," Stephanie spoke, still holding her leg. "T-That Grief stabbed my leg pretty deep."

Bandit hesitated for a moment when she told him that, but slowly walked underneath Stephanie carefully, worried that she might accidentally sit on him if she slips.

When he was near where the scissor is, he noticed the Grief stabbed it pretty deep, just enough to draw blood.

It made Bandit cringe a little when he saw the blood, his wooden skin paling a bit, but noticing something strange about it.

The blood was black instead of red.

He remembered the first time he had seen blood before, when one of the creators was creating the puppet, slashing his hand up pretty deep.

"C-Can you get it out, Bandit?" Stephanie asked, snapping Bandit out of his confusion. "I don't think I could since I'm bleeding pretty good from that stab."

Bandit paused for a moment, but gathered his courage and gripped the end, hearing a pained hiss from Stephanie.

"Ease up on the grip," Stephanie warned, as Bandit paused. "But, you have to yank it pretty fast, or else I might bleed too much."

Bandit nodded his head and gripped again, waiting for the signal for Stephanie to yank it out as fast as he can.

"One, two," Stephanie counted, tightening her grip around her ankle so much that Bandit thinks she might break it off. "Three!"

After Stephanie had given the signal to him, Bandit used all of his strength and quickly yanked the scissor half out of her leg.

Bandit expected Stephanie to cry out after the yank, but nothing came out of her.

After it had come out, Bandit threw the half away from the both, before glancing back to see the damage.

He noticed there was a little blood coming out of the wound where the Grief stabbed, causing him to pale a bit.

"C-Can you please move out of the way?" Stephanie asked, once again snapping Bandit out of his gaze. "I need to see the damage that Grief did to my leg."

Bandit slowly nodded his head and walked out from underneath Stephanie, as she sat down and placed her left leg down, kneeling.

Using only her left hand, while her right was holding her ankle in a death grip, she slowly looked at the damage, by lifting her blue jeans pant leg up slightly.

There was not much black blood coming out of the wound, but to Bandit's surprise, Stephanie's leg was made of metal like her right arm and her eye!

"Wh-what happened t' yer leg?!" Bandit stammered, causing Stephanie to flinch from the sound of his voice.

She glanced down at her leg and back at him.

"I… have a bad accident that made me like this." Stephanie lied. "It was back 2 years ago."

"How did this happen?" Bandit asked, gently poking the metal skin of her leg.

It acted like the flesh of her left hand, spongy and soft.

Mentally, he was expecting it to be rough and hard from underneath his wooden hand.

"Well, I was in a car accident," Stephanie spoke, explaining her past to him, despite the shaking of her hands. "N-Ninety five percent of my body didn't make it. Only five percent survived."

Bandit's jaw dropped in shock when Stephanie answered his question calmly.

"It's hard to explain how I changed from after the incident to this because it's…" Stephanie drifted off, as the visions of the person responsible for creating her like this haunting her memories. "It's terrifying for me to overcome it."

She pushed aside the memory in her head and shaking her head slightly, she went back to what she was doing, placing her left hand on the wound.

"_Sana,_" she spoke, using the same magic to heal her injury.

A light blue glow emitted from around her left hand, as Bandit watched it for a moment.

After a moment had passed, the glowing stopped, and Stephanie moved her left hand away, revealing the wound has healed, leaving nothing behind, and the blood is all cleaned up.

Stephanie moved the blue jeans pant leg down over her leg, as it was also healed and the hold that the Grief stabbed was gone.

"There," she sighed, before looking at her hand, seeing the blood was gone too. "Let's just be a little careful with the Stringless around here. Don't want to be hurt again by them."

Bandit paused for a moment after she informed on the lurking creatures, before nodding his head along with her.

"Alright, I'll stay on thuh ground in case if they are close t' ya." Bandit nodded.

"But then you'll get hurt from them," Stephanie spoke, picking him up again from the ground. "And, I don't want that to happen to you, Bandit."

Bandit looked a little surprised from the response that Stephanie said to him, as he was placed again on her shoulder.

"And, I think I could manage from that stab against my leg." Stephanie continued speaking. "Besides, I'm a tough girl!"

Bandit looked confused for a moment when she said that she was a tough girl, as she giggled to herself.

"What about you?" Stephanie asked, turning to him slightly. "Have you seen a few tough girls like me?"

"Yeah, Ms. Undertaker is a tough girl." Bandit chuckled. "She can do both puttin' thuh dead down in thuh ground 'nd fight off bad guys."

Stephanie hummed in agreement, gently smirking to herself about Ms. Undertaker.

She had watched clips of her fighting off the bad guys before the show that she watched earlier online, but had never seen the puppet before.

Stephanie noticed Bandit was quiet again, so, she looked back at him from thinking to herself, seeing he seemed distant.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked, reaching up to him with her right hand.

But, she paused when she noticed that look on his face when she first heard the story of what happened to his friends.

"Oh, right." She glanced away to herself before noticing a small door. "What's this?"

She knelt down to her knee, which snapped Bandit out of his thoughts, as she looked inside.

"Hey, uh, Bandit?" she questioned, reaching up to him again and wrapping her hand around his body. "Can you look through the window and see what's on the other side?"

She placed Bandit down in front of the door as he stared at it for a moment.

Then, carefully as he can, Bandit got up close to the window, noticing that it was covered in dust.

Using his hand, he wiped the dust off and peered inside, noticing there was a puppet inside.

"I see that someone's inside!" Bandit responded.

"Who is it?" Stephanie asked, perking a little.

Bandit tried his best to see who it is but had trouble seeing who it is clearly.

"I can't see." Bandit sighed, moving his hand away, before trying to open the door.

It was locked tight when Bandit tried opening the door.

"'nd thuh door's lock, 'nd I don't know if there's a key around here." Bandit continued, turning back to Stephanie. "It could also take ages fer us t' make a key fer it too!"

Stephanie could see the slight frustration on his face as he sighed, pinching his nose bridge.

"Maybe I could help," Stephanie smirked, trying to lighten Bandit up.

"What are ya gonna do about it?" Bandit snapped, his voice with a hint of sarcasm inside. "Do a little 'Alice in Wonderland' thin' t' go try t' get through thuh door?"

"No," Stephanie calmly answered, picking the Bandit up from the ground. "I'm going to use my own skills to get to the person."

"Like what?" Bandit asked, looking confused than irritated.

"Watch and learn," Stephanie placed him down on the ground, far away from her to be safe from any accidents.

Bandit watched as she stood back up to her height before closing her eyes.

She placed her left hand against her chest and softly whispered to herself, "_Caligo._"

With that, her hair immediately turned into a pale mist color, startling Bandit.

Her body turned halfway invisible, except her form is still there.

Stephanie's long hair acted like water, waving around her head, while her legs were missing, only replaced with mist.

She opened her eyes, and the sclera was turned black.

But her eye color was clear white, as if she had become blind.

Her clothes were almost visible, except for the camouflage pattern on her sweater that gave her out.

Instead of blue, it was in different colors of white with some grey.

The mist form that was once Stephanie glanced down at their hands, looking unfazed by the change.

"Uh, Stephanie?" Bandit slowly spoke, as the mist responded to their name, glancing over at him. "I-Is that you?"

Stephanie nodded her head, and floated down, before mentioning to the door.

"You're gonna try t' go through thuh door?" Bandit stammered as Stephanie nodded her head.

"_Watch and learn, Bandit,_" Stephanie spoke, winking gently to him.

Her voice sounded slightly echo-y and quiet, but clear enough for Bandit to hear her.

Bandit looked slightly surprised from that when Stephanie winked at him, before she disappeared into the surrounding mist, before going through the door.

He watched as the last of the mist disappeared on the other side of the door, as he peeked through the window.

The mist slowly formed back from Stephanie in the beginning, before changing into something else that made Bandit a bit worried.

Slowly, the form changed into a small animal, that looked like a beast.

It had long and white fur with black stripes and black socks with white toes.

It also has a long bushy tail and looked taller than Bandit himself.

The creature also has black-tipped ears and wears a collar around its neck, that has the same familiar decoration as Stephanie's sweater.

When it looked at Bandit, it had the same eye color as Stephanie and medium whiskers.

The name tag on the front has Stephanie's name on it, which made Bandit's puzzle pieces clicked instantly.

"Stephanie?" Bandit questioned in confusion.

"Yeah, it's me." the creature answered, walking up to him on the other side of the door. "The room in here is a little too small for me to be in my human form fully, so I instead changed into my cat form."

Bandit quietly nodded his head, unable to speak at this point.

"Alright, I don't think I could change the person in here into mist to go through the door again," Stephanie continued speaking, her long bushy tail moved in front of her. "Since there is a lot of Grieves around here, it might make it difficult."

Bandit nodded his head again, and Stephanie cocked her head to the side slightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked, sounding a bit worried. "You look like you saw a ghost."

"N-No, not really!" Bandit squeaked. "It's not normal fer a cat t' talk t' me. 'nd I haint see one before."

"Oh!" Stephanie perked, before chuckling. "Sorry, I attend to act instead of explaining what I was doing. It's a bad habit of mine."

Then, she looked a bit worried, as her ears flattened a bit.

"Although are you okay on that side of the door?" she asked, sounding worried for him.

"I'm fine over here, Steph!" Bandit assured. "Besides, I got my trusty pop pistol with me in case o' those Stringless gets t' me!"

He twirled the pop pistol in his hand for a moment, before putting it back on the side of his hip.

Stephanie chuckled and lifted a paw up to the window.

"And I got my trusty skills and claws!" She beamed, before showing them to him.

"I didn't know that cats had claws." Bandit remarked, looking slightly impressed.

Stephanie chuckled again and retracted her claws, before saying, "Anyways, I gotta see if that person is okay! I'll find a way back here after getting them, okay?"

Bandit nodded his head, and Stephanie got up to her feet.

"Alright, I'll see you soon, Bandit!" Stephanie winked, before walking off, leaving the Bandit for himself.

1


	4. The Banker

Stephanie continued walking down the long dark room, heading towards where she saw the figure inside.

When she got close to the puppet that Bandit saw through the window, she looked closer to it, seeing it was blank!

They both had mistaken a blank for a real puppet.

Stephanie gently huffed to herself in slight irritation and walked away from the blank, heading into a different direction, down a hallway instead.

Stephanie continued walking down the hallway, glancing around for any puppets that are not blank, although feeling a bit irritated at herself for falling at the stupid idea of being tricked by that blank one back in the other room.

Before she could take another step forward, something chittered from behind her back, causing her to perk up a little, her ears pointed up and glancing around for that noise.

She remembered that chittering from before, seeing that Grief that walked past her before meeting Bandit.

The chittering happened again, and Stephanie continued looking around for the noise.

The hair on the back of her back stood up a little as she continued looking around.

She brought out her claws, ready to slash at whatever could be heading towards her to attack.

Suddenly something wooden and hard grabbed her tail roughly from the tip and yanked back harshly, which caused her to meow in startlement.

Glancing over her shoulder, she noticed that the same blank that she had found before was up and moving!

It had a hold of Stephanie's tail, chittering as it yanked again, looking it was trying to attack her.

Stephanie hissed at the blank Stringless and swiped at it with her paw, causing it to release her tail and fall onto its back, not moving anymore.

After the Stringless releases Stephanie's tail, she huffed and turned back around, continuing along with her journey.

From the back of her head, she feels like she needs to go back and see if Bandit is okay.

Despite him without his strings on, she felt like she needs to protect him at any cost if any other beings might attack him without her noticing.

But when she entered a large room, it was filled with lights that made her look up slightly, seeing there were spotlights above her head.

The vivid visions of the One That Pulls The Strings almost controlling her back when she first entered the studio entered her head, causing her to grit her teeth a little.

With all the spotlights shining on her and the audience enjoying her pain with each passing moment.

It makes her feel terrified at the thought of it.

And it reminded her of her own creator liked the pain on her face repeatedly.

Always doing strange experiments on her and trying to make her 'perfect' for his bidding.

But, shrugged to herself slightly, brushing off the visions in her head and continued walking through the room.

Before her paw tripped over something on the ground.

She fell on her front as she meowed slightly.

After tripping over the object, groaning slightly as she slowly got back up.

Glancing down at what she had tumbled over, she noticed she had tripped over another puppet.

Except this one was different from the blank Stringless that she had encountered before.

The puppet has four slots for eyes, which Stephanie thinks they perhaps may be his eyes.

He is completely bald, and his ears are easily seen protruding from both sides of his head.

The puppet wears a dark blue vest with a lighter blue shirt underneath.

He also has worn-out paint, as some of them were still on them.

From underneath the vest that he has, he seemed to be wearing a button-up shirt with gold buttons and a light brown belt with a gold buckle on the front.

He also has pants, that are also worn out too, like his boots.

Gently as she could, Stephanie picked the puppet up from the ground with her paws, before noticing the snapped strings that were connected to his limbs.

'It must be the Banker that Bandit was talking about.' she thought to herself, looking all over his body for any damage.

After checking for any damages, she placed him back down on the ground, before using her teeth to snip the remaining strings off his body.

Once she snapped the last string off of him, she spat it out and sat back down to her bottom, before using her paw to lift him back up from the ground.

Placing a paw against his chest, she softly said, "_Sana,_" and waited for a few minutes.

A few minutes passed, and the puppet's hand twitched before the fingers started moving.

Slowly, the puppet came back to life, groaning softly and moving slightly underneath her paw.

Stephanie moved her hand away from his chest as he placed a hand on the side of his head, blinking his four eyes.

"Wha…" he spoke, sounding a bit confused, mostly groggily from how many years have passed since he had woken up. "Wh-What happened?"

He glanced over at her in wonder of what happened, only to see a cat in front of him, staring at him with curious steel-blue eyes.

A loud shriek came from him as he scrambled backward away from her, as Stephanie gave out a loud meow, jumping away from him.

She landed back on the ground after jumping away from him, all fluffed up like a puffball.

Stephanie watched him as he weakly tried crawling away from her, trying to use his legs to get up from the ground to run away.

Sighing, she walked over to the squirming puppet, placing her paw down gently on his back, using some of her weight against his back to pin him.

He squeaked from underneath her paw slightly, as he moved his hands up over his head quickly, shaking like a leaf.

He was trapped with a creature he had never seen before.

"D-Don't eat me, please!" He screamed, panicking as he shook. "I don't taste good!"

"'Eat you?'" Stephanie asked, sounding confused, and slightly disgusted. "I'm not going to eat you. Besides, you were right that you weren't tasty to me. I already ate something earlier to add."

He perked a little from her voice, still shaking like a leaf and hiding underneath his hands.

"Pl-Please let me go, m-ma'am," he pleaded, curling a bit from underneath her paw. "I didn't mean to sc-scared your a-animal."

"It's okay," Stephanie softly assured him. "I'm not trapping you like a mouse. I just want to see if you are okay."

His shaking slowly died down a little as she continued talking, assuring him gently.

"Why don't you look at me?" Stephanie asked, her ears flattening a bit in worry. "I could try helping you."

"W-Won't your animal at-attack me?" He stammered, still covering his eyes with his hands.

"No, I won't attack you," Stephanie assured him softly. "And, to let you know, I am the only person here."

Confused, he finally flipped over to his back as Stephanie lifted her paw up lightly for him.

After flipping on his back as she placed her paw back on him, he hesitated for a moment, before slowly moving his hands away from his face.

He saw the cat staring down at him, with a slightly annoyed look on its face, as if it is like a human.

He flinched slightly in startlement, feeling worried that he might have accidentally ticked off the cat still since he screamed.

"You know," the cat spoke, sounding like a human. "It's kind of rude of saying "animal" around someone that's technically human, right?"

The cat cocked its head to the side in response, as he just laid there, his jaw dropped.

"What?" She asked, moving her paw away from his chest. "Have you… Oh, you have never seen a talking cat before. Right, kept forgetting."

She placed a paw against her forehead, chuckling gently to herself.

"Sorry about that." she apologized, smiling softly, noticing his shaking had stopped and was not moving an inch.

She moved her paw away from her head, looking a bit confused.

"Although are you alright? You seemed to be a little stiff," she asked, leaning down a bit towards him.

He curled up a bit when she lowered her head down a bit towards him, worried about those teeth he could slightly see.

"I-I don't know if I c-could get up to my f-feet." Banker stammered, still laying on his back.

The cat paused for a moment after he had said that, before reaching over to him with her paws, as he noticed there were claws.

He panicked a little and tried to crawl away from her paws when she instead stopped mid-reach.

"Sorry." she apologized, as her ears flattened. "I was going to pick up from the ground to help you walk. Are my claws a little terrifying?"

She glanced down at them for a moment, before they retracted back into her fingers.

"There, is this better?" she asked, showing him her paws.

He was quiet for a moment, staring at her paws for a moment, before slowly shaking his head.

"Alright." She nodded, before slowly reaching for him again. "Hold still so that I wouldn't scratch you on accident, okay?"

He mentally whimpered to himself as the paws wrapped around his back, wanting to move away from them and the creature at the same time.

But, he instead stood still, as the cat lifted him up for a moment, before placing him down to his feet.

His legs wobbled a bit when she placed him down, but instead of moving her paws away, she kept them near him if he falls over.

"Move along with my paws," she gently spoke, watching him with curiosity.

He was quiet for a moment as his legs shook, but gathered his courage and took a shaky step forward.

When he did take that step forward, he slipped a little from underneath his weight, causing him to grab her paw, trying to get his weight back up.

Even though without those strings connected to him, he had never felt this weightful before.

Standing up from his tumble, he tried again to walk, although trembling slightly.

He took a step forward, this time, not tripping and took another.

Slowly, he started picking up the pace, as he was close to the cat's front.

When he noticed that, he went stiff, shaking like a leaf.

If he was human; he would have been sweating at this moment.

Did she trick him?

He mentally cursed at himself for falling a stupid idea, before stiffing when the cat leaned down to his face, as he was shaking.

'Don't panic,' he thought to himself, as he watched the cat's eyes looked over him. 'Don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't panic, don't-'

Before he could finish the last thought in his head, the cat then gently licked his face, causing him to jolt.

After the cat finished licking his face, he looked a bit confused than scared, as the cat rubbed against him gently, while a soft rumble came from it.

He stiffened a little when the cat rubbed against him, until the cat landed on the ground, curled against his legs, while the same rumbling came from its throat.

Curiosity replaced his fear, and he cautiously placed a hand on the cat's head, before quickly pulling back, worried that it might bite him.

But nothing happened after he pulled his hand away from its head.

So, he placed his hand on the cat's head, rubbing between the ears gently.

The strange noise emitting from the cat got louder, which made him jolt, pulling his hands away.

"See?" the cat spoke, before looking at him eye to eye. "Nothing to wo_rrr_y about."

She purred a little when she said 'worry,' before gently headbutting him, as the fur gently rubbed against his wooden skin.

"O-Okay…" he spoke, still shaking a little, but not too much. "Y-You don't want to attack me," he paused when he noticed the cat's name tag, reading, "Stephanie?"

"Nope," she answered, her purring stopped and staring at him. "I just wanted to see if Bandit found the right person."

"'Bandit?'" he repeated, before remembering the name. "You found Bandit?!"

Then, the color of his face became a bit pale.

"Did-Did you-?!" he stammered in horror.

"What?" Stephanie asked, before noticing something that he was asking, then made a disgusted face, saying, "Yuck!"

He looked confused when she responded to his confused and slightly scared question, while the color of his face turned back to normal.

"I didn't!" She reacted. "Remember? I ate something else besides him! I just found him and snipped the remaining strings from him, and we both decided to look for you and the rest."

He sighed in relief as he placed a hand against his chest.

Then, he had a slightly fearful look on his face, as the pale color returned.

"Y-You cut off the remaining strings?" he slowly asked.

She looked confused from the look on his face for a moment, before realizing what he meant by that.

"Oh, you play by your rules with the strings on," she remembered, before sighing. "And, yes, I did cut them off."

"W-We need those!" he shrieked, shaking like a leaf again and stuttering. "Wh-What will happen to us? W-Will we get hurt by the Stringless, or-or, are we the Stringless now?!"

Before he could continue panicking, the cat thrusts her bushy tail into his face, causing him to snap out of his panicking as he sputtered.

"Calm down." she softly spoke before moving her tail slightly so that he could see her and talk to her. "You're not a tool anymore."

"Wh-What do you mean by that?" he stammered, placing his hands on her tail and slowly moving it from his face.

"I meant you don't have a part to play anymore," she answered, before leaning down towards him. "You were someone else's puppet, weren't you?"

He paused for a moment before nodding his head.

"On my side, I don't use people or living beings as my puppets." she continued speaking, moving her tail from in front of him behind his back. "If I were, I would've had Bandit as my own, and using him as a protection for me. But I hate that."

He continued listening to her, his hand on his wrist in thought as she assured him.

"I hated that they used people like that." she sighed, her right ear twitched along with the tip of her tail. "It annoys me to high heaven. But I cut them off to help other people. I wasn't the one who cut your strings 2 years ago, but I will help you find Bandit and your friends."

His face lit up a bit when she said that, as she continued talking.

"You're free from them now, and I am happy for that." she continued, before feeling her wrist with her paw. "I almost had the same problem just like you."

"Y-You were someone's puppet?" he asked, his shaking died down as the pale color returned to normal.

"Yep," she sighed, glancing away from him to the ground, looking slightly ashamed from inside the eyes. "And I regretted it after that…"

She paused for a moment after she had assured him, before shaking her head.

"N-Never mind about that," she spoke, before switching the subject. "But, you are never my puppet. You are human, despite your form."

"What does th-that mean?" he asked, sounding a bit confused.

"It means you are like us," she spoke, placing a paw against her chest, before chuckling. "Not as a cat, but as a human, you have the same feelings, the same likes, and the same ideas as us. You're not a toy to be tossed away."

He paused for a moment after she had assured him, slowly digesting the words that she had said to him.

"But now that I found you, mister?" she drifted off, trying to remember his name, as she had her paw out for him.

"Oh, Banker," he answered. "Banker i-is my name."

"Pleased to meet you, Banker," she smiled, before bowing slightly to him. "The name is Stephanie, Stephanie Nova Rose Allen."

"That's q-quite a mouthful." Banker commented.

"Yeah," Stephanie giggled, before using a finger to tap her name tag. "Such a shame that I couldn't put it on here."

"You? But, didn't your owner g-give you that name?" Banker asked, mentioning her name tag.

She paused for a moment after he asked about her 'owner' and sighed as her ears flattened a little.

"No," she answered before standing up to her feet. "I'll show you later, after we get out of this room."

"R-Right." Banker nodded, glancing away. "I-I suppose walking with you is okay."

Stephanie shook her head no and sat down on the ground in front of him, waiting for something from him.

"Why don't you climb my back instead?" she asked, patiently waiting for him.

Banker looked startled at first when she told him that.

"Wh-Why?" he stammered, shaking a little.

"Because it's easier than walking by me and falling behind since I walk pretty fast." she calmly spoke. "Imagine riding me like a horse."

"I… never r-rode a horse before," Banker responded. "But w-will I will be safe riding on you?"

Stephanie nodded her head and moved her tail out of the way, allowing Banker to climb on her.

"When you get to my collar, you can go underneath it to be safer," Stephanie spoke, waiting for him to climb.

Banker paused for a moment, before nodding his head, and walking up to the bottom of her back.

Reaching up with his right hand, he placed it on her back, before taking a small handful of her fur, not too much to accidentally pull a handful of it out.

He waited for a moment for her to do something to him, but nothing happened.

She instead waited for him to get onto her back, without snapping at him or urging him to get on.

Slowly, he grabbed another handful above the first one and started climbing up, gently taking handful by handful.

Once he reached the middle of Stephanie's back, Stephanie slowly got up from the ground, causing Banker to panic a little, staying perfectly still as the body moved.

It was slow and careful, but not careless and fast.

The movement stopped after Stephanie got up to her feet from sitting down on her bottom.

Instead of walking, she waited for him to get up to her head, where he could be underneath her collar for safety.

He noticed that when she did not move and decided to keep going.

Once Banker reached her collar, he grabbed the bottom of it and gently lifted it up, noticing there was enough room for him to squeeze underneath.

So, being as quick as he can, he squeezed himself through the collar and poked out the other side, up to the back of Stephanie's head where he could see where they are going.

"Are you comfortable?" she asked, waiting for a response from him.

"Y-Yes, I am." Banker stammered as he placed his hands on her head for a safety reason. "H-How are we going to g-get out of here?"

"Watch and learn." Stephanie started walking towards the darkness, causing Banker to be a little startled, but relaxed when he noticed she was being careful with him.

Stephanie did not need to take out something to light her way through the hallway as she still had her night vision on.

She turned corners and walked down pathways, still carrying Banker on her back.

Banker, on the other hand, was a little startled from her walking, but relaxed a little as she continued walking through the dark hallways.

"How did y-you get in here, Stephanie?" Banker asked, glancing around nervously.

"Well, to begin with, I found a TV show online called, 'Showdown Bandit,' and I was curious about the puppets since it was canceled many years ago," Stephanie explained while turning the corner. "I figured looking for the puppets because I feel sorry for them, and understood how it felt."

"Th-That's strangely n-nice of you," Banker responded, sitting up somewhat and sounding a bit confused. "Wh-What happened after you got in?"

"Well, let's just say I was on the wrong part of the stage and almost became someone's puppet for their show," Stephanie answered, sighing as her ears flattened a bit.

"Y-You were human?" Banker asked, sounding confused.

"No," Stephanie answered. "I am human, it's just that I couldn't shapeshift back to myself because of how low the ceiling is in this room."

"Y-You shapeshift?" Banker asked, sounding a bit confused.

"Yeah," Stephanie lightly nodded her head, not too much to make Banker on top of her head dizzy. "I have… uh, I think, over a million forms if I could try."

"'O-Over a million?!'" Banker stammered, sounding shocked. "Th-That's impossible for me to count!"

"I know!" Stephanie chuckled. "I think I broke my friend who was a medic when I was on one of my adventures explaining how my powers worked."

"G-Gosh," Banker softly gasped. "Yo-You have a lot of friends, Stephanie."

"Eh, yeah," Stephanie nodded. "What about you? Do you have any friends?"

"Yes, I-I do!" Banker nodded. "There's Bandit since we've met during one of his heists, I was sc-scared half to death when he appeared!"

Stephanie gently chuckled at the thought of that and continued listening to Banker's words.

"Th-There's Penny, she's one of the sweetest people I have ever met, despite the other girls that I have met." Banker continued. "And there's Sheriff John, I don't t-trust him that much, but he is a good person. Ms. Undertaker is a good fr-friend too, but sometimes scares me."

Then, Stephanie perked a little when he heard Banker's tone of voice wavered a bit close to the next person.

"Then, there's Doc Carver." Banker swooned. "He's kind, friendly, and understanding to people who come to him."

Stephanie gently chuckled as Banker stopped talking, thinking about him.

"Seems like you love him." Stephanie softly joked.

Immediately, Banker's hands that were holding onto her fur tightened a bit.

"How did you know that?!" he exclaimed, sounding shocked about what she said to him.

"By the tone of your voice," Stephanie responded, not feeling the tight grips of fur from Banker. "Seems like you missed him too."

Banker said nothing and continued being quiet, unsure to say anything to her.

Stephanie chuckled again and said, "That's actually really cute. It seems like he's a decent guy too."

"Y-You think it's cute?" Banker stammered, finally speaking after being quiet.

"Yeah," Stephanie smiled. "It's been usual since I've met gay people before."

"Wh-What's 'gay?'" Banker innocently asked, sounding confused.

"Well, let me explain," Stephanie spoke before hearing a chittering noise.

It made her stop talking to Banker and hid behind the wall as her pupils narrowing slightly.

Banker hid behind Stephanie's head without talking to her, worried about being caught by that Stringless.

It was one of those unpainted puppets, except missing an arm, as it stumbled down the hallway, chittering slightly.

Stephanie's hair on the back started standing up slightly, as she prepared herself to attack the Stringless when it gets close to her.

Banker on her back was slightly shaking as he watched the Stringless glancing around, chittering as it looked for someone or a puppet.

The hair that was sticking up was tickling the area where his nose it, causing his senses to sneeze.

Worried, he placed both of his wooden hands against his mouth, shutting it from sneezing out loud.

Luckily, it had stopped before he sneezed, so, he sighed quietly, slowly moving his hands away from his 'nose.'

But then he sneezed, loudly.

"Achoo!" Stephanie flinched slightly from the sneeze coming from Banker, as the Stringless puppet glanced over at the two. "Oops."

After the Stringless looked at Stephanie and Banker, the two of them frozen on the spot and hoping it would not alert the rest.

But, it shrieked loudly, startling the two.

Then, a massive swarm of Stringless came from behind the hallway, some without legs, arms, or heads, crawling, or walking, or stumbling towards them to attack.

Immediately, Stephanie went into flight mode, running as fast as she can, as Banker's hands went back on her head, gripping handfuls of fur to stay on her back, luckily the collar he is underneath was acting like a strap for him to stay on.

Stephanie zoomed down the hallway as fast as she can, as the Stringless was in a large swarm, running towards them at a fast pace, as some were not lucky and was run over.

Banker panicked a little, and his grip tightened a bit, feeling like he was riding a mustang as Stephanie tightly turned a corner.

* * *

Meanwhile, Bandit was looking around for Stephanie with Banker, feeling a bit worried about the two of them.

"Where are they?" he mumbled, glancing around. "There's gotta be a way in that other room."

Suddenly, he stopped when he noticed something was off.

He glanced over to the lamp that was on, sitting on a crate inches away from him.

The flame inside was flickering a bit from side to side, as if something is going on.

Then, the ground underneath his feet rumbled slightly, causing Bandit to stiffen a bit.

He remembered that time during one of the adventures he was on, that he was riding a train as it bounced around, making him dizzy.

He heard something in the distance, sounding like Stephanie's voice.

"Banditt!" Stephanie shrieked in the distance.

Bandit turned towards where the voice was coming from, his wooden heart beating slightly in worry.

'What did Stephanie do?!' he panicked to himself as he glanced around. 'Did she start thuh train up in that back room?'

But, the rumbling got more intense, feeling like thousands of feet hitting the ground, heading towards him.

"BANDITTT!" Stephanie shrieked again, this time louder. "RUNNN!"

Stephanie came from the corner of the hallway that he came from, still in her cat form as she had Banker on her back.

Banker was gritting his teeth as he had large handfuls of her fur in his hands, gripping it tightly as he was underneath her collar around her neck.

"Stephanie!" Bandit beamed, feeling relieved that she had found him. "You-!"

Suddenly, his face turned from happy, to a shocked and fear look.

"BANDITTT!" Stephanie shrieked again. "RUN FOR IT!"

Behind her back was a massive swarm of Stringless, chasing right at them like a bunch of bulls seeing the color red on her.

Taking no chances, Bandit turned around from looking down the hallway and ran like the wind, his wooden legs running as if the devil is chasing him.

Despite his height, he could not run away from them, as they were getting closer, as Stephanie was right behind him.

Using her mouth, she quickly grabbed Bandit up from the ground, as he had a hand on top of his hat from falling off, and his arm wrapped around her canine tooth.

Luckily, her teeth were not sharp as he had his hand on it, before glancing over his shoulder to see what is going on, panicking as he watched the swarm.

"WHAT IN TARNATION DID YA DO, STEPHANIE?!" Bandit shrieked, looking as panicked as Banker is.

Stephanie did not answer to Bandit's question and continued running, still having Bandit in her mouth, without accidentally biting down on him.

She rapidly turned corners and zoomed down hallways, not even bothering to stop for anyone or anything.

'It feels like I am ridin' a mustang…' Bandit thought to him, still holding onto his hat and watching her zoom down the hallway.

She turned another tight corner and zoomed down the hallway, before noticing there was a large gap on the floors.

"Uh, S-Stephanie?!" Banker stammered, sounding panicked, while Bandit started squirming get out of her mouth. "I-Is that a g-gap?!"

Stephanie did not respond to Banker's question, before speeding up, heading towards the gap.

"TURN STEPHANIE TURN!" Bandit shrieked at the top of his lungs, panicking as he kicked his wooden legs frantically. "YA CAN'T MAKE THAT JUMP! IT'S TOO WIDE FER YA!"

Stephanie did not follow his voice, still heading towards that gap, while Banker's grip tightened a bit too, feeling overwhelmed and on the verge of fainting.

"STEPHANIE?!" Bandit shrieked, before Stephanie reached the end of the gap, and jumped.

Both Bandit and Banker screamed as Stephanie soared through the air, as the Stringless stopped on the other side of the gap, as some fell into the deep dark hole when others bumped into them.

She reached the other end of the hole safely and continued running, before turning the corner, disappearing with Banker and Bandit.

* * *

After running for a moment, Stephanie started slowing down a bit, before stopping, panting a bit with Bandit in her mouth.

Bandit was shaking like a leaf from the jump Stephanie made, as his slight pale wooden skin was bit paler.

Then, he glanced up at Stephanie from over his shoulder, his right hand still on top of his hat.

She opened her mouth and allowed Bandit out, as he landed on the ground on his side.

Luckily, he was not covered in saliva from her, as Banker on her back was limping.

"Uh, Stephanie?" Bandit spoke, as Stephanie perked her head up slightly. "What happened t' Banker?"

Stephanie laid down on the ground on her front, allowing Bandit to reach up for him, gently getting Banker out from underneath her collar and off of her.

Apparently, he had passed out after the jump Stephanie made, as there were strands of fur stuck in between his fingers.

Bandit sighed in relief that he is okay, besides passing out, as he had him in his right arm.

Then, he glanced over at Stephanie with an irritated expression on his face.

"Don't do that t' us again, Stephanie!" Bandit snapped at her. "Ya almost gave us a heart attack!"

A soft chuckle came from Stephanie as she laid down on her side, tired from running away from the massive swarm of Stringless.

"Duly… noted…" she panted, laying down on the ground comfortably.

Bandit sighed as he glanced back over at Banker, noticing he was coming back to, groaning slightly.

"What… happened?" Banker asked, blinking his four sockets. "D-Did I puke?"

"No," Stephanie answered, as Banker looked at her from over Bandit's shoulder. "You just passed out from that jump."

"Don't do that again, please." Banker politely asked, slowly getting up from the ground with the help of Bandit.

Stephanie nodded her head as she leaned against the wall, still panting.

She glanced up at the ceiling to see there is room for her to be herself instead of her cat form.

So, she shapeshifted back into herself, sweating with sweat and panting slightly instead of a lot.

Glancing back at the two puppets, she noticed that Banker is now hiding behind Bandit, who looked a bit confused.

"Banker, this is Stephanie," Bandit spoke, introducing her to him.

"I-I know, Bandit." Banker stammered, peeking around him somewhat. "I-It's just that I didn't know that she i-is the person that found me before. I-I thought her cat form was her pet."

Stephanie lightly smiled and turned her body towards them slightly, as Bandit reached behind his back and moved Banker in front of him.

"Why don't ya two talk it over fer a while until Stephanie gets 'er strength back t' continue walking?" Bandit spoke, gently patting his shoulders with his hands.

"Me?!" Banker squeaked, before being gently pushed towards Stephanie and into her left hand.

He squeaked a bit when he was in her hand, shaking like a leaf again.

Her fingers wrapped around him gently from underneath his arms, before being lifted up to her face.

Once he was eye to eye with her, he stiffened a bit, worried about what she could be thinking to do to him.

"You're a little smaller than what I had expected." Stephanie gently chuckled as she placed her right hand underneath his bottom. "Though, this is my true form than my cat form."

"So, y-you weren't telling me weird things ab-bout you being human, right?" Banker stammered.

"Yeah," Stephanie shrugged slightly, not moving an inch, as Bandit climbed on her side to be on her left shoulder. "But, not entirely human. 95% of my body is metal, while 5% of my body is human. Either way, I am still 100% human!"

She smiled at the end as Bandit sat on her shoulder, chuckling softly.

"How are ya, Banker?" Bandit asked.

"A little confused." Banker honestly responded, placing a hand on the side of his head. "And maybe a little s-scared since that jump."

"Yeah, how can ya do that jump?" Bandit nodded, glancing back over to Stephanie. "You're only 14 inches tall!"

"Well, let me show you." Gently, she moved her right hand from underneath Banker's bottom and placed him on her right shoulder.

He places a hand behind her neck, nervously gripping the collar of her sweater if he accidentally falls off her shoulder.

After placing Banker down on her shoulder, she reached down to her pant leg and gently pulled it up, revealing her metal leg.

But, after rolling that pant leg up, she reached over to the other side and pulled that up, revealing both of her legs were metal!

"There are strong hydraulics along with springs inside my legs that allows me to either kick, jump, and run," Stephanie explained, rubbing her right leg gently. "That's how I was running pretty fast in my cat form, since underneath all of that fur."

"So, they allow ya t' be pretty fast?" Bandit asked, sounding curious.

"Yep!" Stephanie nodded her head as she pushed the pant legs back down over her legs. "And, they are pretty strong too. I can't show it right now, because I have a feeling that something bad might happen."

She stood up to her feet, although they were not shaking, Stephanie continued to stand up with energy, which confused both Bandit and Banker a little.

After she had stood up to her feet, she stretched out a bit carefully, before continuing to walk down the dim hallway.

1


	5. Mysteries Within Mysteries

It has been hours since Stephanie has walked through the dimmed hallways, wondering where they entered now.

Since she had lost feeling in her legs, she does not feel soreness from them, neither feel tired either.

But, Bandit, on the other hand, was a bit worried about her as she turned a corner.

"Aren't ya tired already, Stephanie?" Bandit asked, sounding a bit worried. "You've been walkin' fer a pretty long time."

Stephanie replied with a gentle shake of her head, shaking no.

"Wh-What about your legs?" Banker asked, suggesting about them. "I know they are m-made out of metal; but, aren't you worried they might wear out or rust?"

"Not really," Stephanie responded, not even looking at Bandit or Banker on her shoulders. "They never wear out or rust no matter what. And I have plenty of strength left to continue on the adventure."

Bandit gently huffed and glanced away as Stephanie glanced over at him from the corner of her eye.

"What's the purpose of your face?" Stephanie asked, sounding a bit curious.

"You're stubborn." Bandit answered, glancing back over to her.

"Hmm," Stephanie gently shrugged her shoulders slightly, causing some hair to be in their faces. "I've always been born with it."

After she said that, she glanced back over at the two, noticing they were slightly trying to get Stephanie's hair from their faces, as Bandit moved it behind her back.

"Wait one moment," Stephanie reached up with her hands and gently picked up Bandit and Banker from her shoulders before placed down on the ground.

Then, she reached back into her blue jeans pocket, pulling out a small round light blue hair rubber band.

Using her fingers, she brushed her hair back, before using the rubber band to put it up into a low ponytail.

From underneath all of her hair, they noticed that Stephanie has earcuffs.

Two at the tip of her right ear and three on the side of her left.

But, to make things more curious, her left ear was also made of metal, just like her right arm.

"Now, are you two ready?" she asked, kneeling down slightly to their height.

They both nodded their heads, and Stephanie first picked up Bandit, placing him on her right shoulder, this time without all the hair covering his face.

Then, she picked up Banker, pausing for a moment and noticing he was shaking from head to toe.

"Wh-What's wrong, Stephanie?" Banker asked, looking and sounding a bit nervous.

"Nothing," she answered, placing Banker down on her left shoulder. "Just thinking to myself for a moment. Sorry if I made you nervous, Banker."

"N-No, it's alright," Banker assured her, moving his right hand behind the back of her neck, gripping the collar of her sweater. "Sometimes, I missed being at m-my station."

Stephanie continued walking after putting her hair up, glancing at Banker slightly.

"You missed the station?" Stephanie curiously asked as Bandit listened to their conversation.

"Y-Yes," Banker nodded his head. "It feels safe for me to be inside without all the danger. Th-This might be my first time st-stepping out."

"Don't worry about it," Stephanie gently assured him. "We'll try to find a way out of this place and-WHOA!"

Her foot suddenly dipped down and moved forward, causing her to fail her arms around as Bandit and Banker gripped onto her collar of her sweater, holding onto tight.

When she got her balance back, she sighed in relief from accidentally falling down that strange hole.

"That was a close one," she sighed as Bandit nodded his head. "Is everyone okay than being startled?"

"Other than th-that, I think we're safe," Banker responded, before looking at the hole. "What could've made that hole?"

Stephanie knelt down to her knees and peered inside, looking at the darkness below.

"I don't know, but it's pretty deep," Stephanie responded, before snapping the fingers of her left hand, producing a small flame in her hand.

Banker and Bandit looked surprised at first when she made a small flame, before moving it down in front of her face, seeing how dark it still is, even with that flame in her palm.

Curious, she blew the flame out with one puff of her breath, and reached into her sweater pocket, pulling out a small, round rock.

"What in the Sam Hill are you doing?" Bandit asked, sounding confused.

Stephanie did not answer the question he asked her and gently threw the rock down, before cupping a hand over her left metal ear, listening for the rock landing on the ground, while counting the minutes.

Bandit and Banker were also listening for the sound along with Stephanie as Bandit had his hat up slightly to listen carefully.

When Stephanie reached the hour mark, the rock finally landed on the ground, making it echo.

"Whoa," Bandit remarked, looking impressed and scared at the same time slightly. "That's a long way down there."

Stephanie quietly nodded her head in response, before standing back up to her feet.

"What could've m-made that hole?" Banker nervously asked, his right hand gripping the back of Stephanie's sweater collar.

Stephanie glanced over at the edges of the hole, before snapping her fingers of her left hand again.

The same flame appeared in her palm again to see what made the damage.

There were long, thin marks along the side of the walls of the hole.

They looked almost like fingers that were scratching at the sides from someone who wanted to get out.

"It looks like something big went through this hole," Stephanie answered, feeling the wall with her right hand. "Judging by the looks of it, it was one of those Stringless puppets, except bigger."

A shiver went down Bandit's wooden spine, as Banker noticed that look on his face.

"You mean the Beast is released?" Banker asked, sounding more worried.

'Beast?' Stephanie thought to herself, glancing over at Banker.

"If thuh hole means that it did get out o' thuh mines," Bandit spoke slowly, glancing over at Banker with a slightly worried look on his face. "Then, yup, it did."

"What 'Beast?'" Stephanie spoke, sounding confused, as she stepped around the large hole.

Bandit and Banker glanced over at her, before Banker glanced away, releasing the back of her sweater and nervously rubbed his arm.

"There's a beast that is locked in thuh mines from Murray." Bandit explained. "'nd, Murray is an old friend o' our."

Stephanie listened to the explanation from Bandit, while Banker was nervously glancing around for any creatures.

"It almost attacked me when I was looking for secrets around this place," Bandit continued, before shivering to himself slightly. "But managed to escape from it."

Then, he worriedly glanced over at the hole, gritting his teeth slightly.

"I thought it was still locked away for good." A slight nervous tone was in his voice than a brave one.

Stephanie nodded to herself slightly and thought to herself, continuing to walk down the hallway.

"But what could have driven it to make that hole?" Stephanie asked, pausing for a moment and placing a finger against the bottom of her chin.

"Maybe all o' thuh chaos around here?" Bandit guessed, shrugging his shoulders.

"I suppose." Stephanie nodded her head, continuing walking.

Then, she reached a door at the end of the hallway, this time, her height than Bandit's or Banker's.

Stephanie paused a moment in her tracks, staring at it in confusion, wondering where that door come from.

"What's this?" Stephanie curiously spoke, walking over to the door and thought to herself. "I don't think this door was here in the studio before… wasn't it?"

She slowly reached for the doorknob, when he hesitated for a moment, feeling something was not right.

"What's wrong, Steph?" Bandit asked, sounding a bit confused.

"There's… something off about this door." Stephanie spoke, her eyes narrowing slightly. "I have a feeling that something or someone is trying to manipulate us."

A pause came from the three, now understanding what Stephanie meant by that.

"Yes," Banker spoke, nodding his head slowly. "I don't think we should go through that door."

"I agree with ya on that, friend." Bandit agreed as Stephanie took a step back.

"Yeah, let's go a different direction." Stephanie nodded her head, turning around and walking down the left side of the hallway.

After she left the door, it mysteriously disappears into thin air.

Meanwhile, Stephanie wandered into a different section of the place, covered in yarn-like cobwebs.

The web was spread all over the walls of the hallway, from top to bottom.

"What is this stuff?" Stephanie asked, reaching up and pushing some strands away.

Bandit said nothing, but kept his guard up, as Banker looked really nervous as he curled closer to Stephanie's neck.

"What's wrong, guys?" Stephanie asked again, looking at the two of them.

"Th-These are the works of the araknits." Banker stammered, before shuddering. "I am terrified of them to death."

"'Araknits?'" Stephanie curiously repeated. "What are araknits?"

"Araknits are a type o' spider, Stephanie." Bandit spoke, his pop pistol out and ready to fire at anything that attacks Stephanie or Banker. "They attack any puppets around here 'nd comes into big swarms."

"Yikes," Stephanie spoke, before glancing back in front and moved some web from her face, seeing a Stringless puppet's face in front of her face. "YIKES!"

She immediately pulled her hand away when she saw the face, stepping back.

Bandit and Banker were also startled from that, Bandit pointing his pistol at the lifeless puppet, while Banker scooted closer to Stephanie's neck.

"What was that?!" Stephanie exclaimed, before reaching back up and moving the web again, seeing that Stringless puppet's face.

"They do that." Bandit spoke, pointing his gun at it, while Banker was curling close to Stephanie's neck. "We'd better be more careful. Some enemies are more dangerous than others."

Stephanie nodded her head in response, before removing her hand from the Stringless puppet's face, trying to push some cobwebs from her face to look for a way through.

"This is thick like pea soup," Stephanie remarked, trying to get deeper into the webs.

She removed her hands from the webs, as one of them was wrapped around her wrist.

Shaking it off, she placed a finger against the bottom of her chin, thinking of a way through the webs.

Then, an idea popped into her head, remembering that she had forgotten about what she had.

"Wait a moment." she chuckled to herself.

Lifting her hands up, she brought out her claws, smirking to herself.

Both Bandit and Banker looked surprised that she had claws, just like her cat form.

"How are ya able t' do that, Steph?" Bandit asked, mentioning to her claws. "Don't ya need t' be in yer cat form t' do that?"

Stephanie glanced over at him and softly chuckled.

"Not really," she answered. "I can use my claws whenever I want, it's a little talent I have."

Bandit looked a little confused from what Stephanie said about it, but mentally shrugged to himself.

With one single finger, she cut through one of the yarns, seeing there were more cobwebs on the other side.

"Oi." She sighed before continuing cutting through the yarn with her claws.

They all walked deeper and deeper into the web of darkness, as Banker looked nervous, while Bandit was alert, glancing around and pointing with his pistol.

When Stephanie reached a thick wad of the web, she slashed at it with her claws carefully.

After she cut at it with her claws, she noticed there was a sign from underneath the web.

Curious, she continued cutting through it with her claws, as the sign slowly appeared after one stand disappears.

After cutting the last strand, the sign was a gold plate that reads, "Carver Mansion."

"'Carver?'" Stephanie repeated in confusion, cocking her head to the side slightly.

"This is Doc's mansion!" Banker remarked, perking a little before looking worried again. "But… it's infested by the araknits."

"Don't worry about that!" Stephanie cheekily beamed, before slashing at a huge mass of web, revealing a pathway to the mansion. "You got me! Stephanie, the web cutter!"

Bandit and Banker chuckled slightly at her little joke, before Stephanie continued walking, cutting the webs with her claws.

When she cut the last yarn, she encountered another door, but it was down to Bandit's height.

Stephanie thought to herself for a moment, before sheathing her claws back and picked Bandit and Banker up from her shoulders.

They looked a bit confused from her picking them up from her shoulders, before being placed down on the ground.

After she placed them down on the ground, she shapeshifted back into her cat form.

"Would one of you two open the door?" she curiously asked, waiting for them.

Bandit nodded his head and reached over to the knob and unlocked it, revealing there is more web inside the mansion.

"Yeesh," Stephanie sighed, her ears flattening a bit. "No wonder why the owner abandoned this place."

"Yeah, poor Doc has a fear o' spiders." Bandit nodded his head as Stephanie knelt down a bit for them to climb onto her.

The first one to climb onto her was Bandit, then he helped Banker, as he sat behind him, wrapped his arms around Bandit's waist nervously.

"But, I have a bad feelin' that there he might be captured by 'em." Bandit continued, looking a bit worried.

"Yeah, I have that same feeling too," Stephanie nodded, before squeezing through the door, as the two puppets on her back ducked down a little. "But, we have to find him no matter what."

Once she got through the small door, she walked through the door; she used her teeth to gnaw through the web, as they just snapped after one bite.

When she entered the living room, she was surprised at how large it was and how much web was inside.

"Uh, I think we should split up," Stephanie spoke, kneeling down slightly for them to get off of her back. "It's best to find him that easier way."

Bandit nodded his head and got off of Stephanie, as Banker started trembling after he released Bandit's waist.

"What a-about the araknits?" Banker stammered, shaking like a leaf as he slowly got off of Stephanie's back. "I-I might be attacked by them alone!"

"Then stay with Bandit," Stephanie assured him, glancing over at him from over her shoulder. "He has a weapon in his hand."

Bandit had a slight unsure look on his face, as Banker took his arm.

"Th-That's a good idea." Banker nodded his head, still shaking like a leaf. "Wh-What about you?"

Stephanie lifted her paw up and unsheathed the claws, revealing them to Banker.

"I got these." She spoke, before sheathing them and putting her paw down. "So, I think I am perfectly fine, for now."

They all paused for a moment, thinking to themselves for a moment before Stephanie got an idea.

She lifted her paws up and clapped them together.

After she had clapped them together, a bubble appeared in front of her.

An object in the middle of it looked like an electronic.

Banker and Bandit both looked surprised about it, as their eyes widen a bit, and Banker's jaw dropped slightly.

It was a black walkie-talkie and the size of Bandit's hand.

"Take the walkie-talkie," Stephanie spoke, gently pushing it forward with her paw. "It'll help you communicate with me when we are in our different directions. And the best part, it could also let one of us know we are either in trouble."

Bandit nodded his head and picked the walkie-talkie up from the ground, before hooking it to his side.

"Thanks, Steph!" Bandit thanked. "Now, let's find Doc!"

Stephanie nodded her head and stood up to her feet, glancing around at the surroundings.

"If we find which way to go," Stephanie sighed, her ears flattening a bit.

"Oh, right." Bandit walked over to the nearest wall and moved some webs with his hand.

"Th-This is going to take a long time for us to find a door that leads to where Doc Carver is!" Banker panicked, placing one of his hands on his head. "I-It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!"

Bandit nodded his head as he groaned, placing a hand on his forehead too.

But, Stephanie, on the other hand, had an idea.

"Let's try looking underneath all of this web," she suggested, as Bandit turned around to her. "It'll be easier that way because if we look, we might find a door to find him."

Bandit had a slight unsure look on his face, as Banker gently scratched his cheek with his finger.

"Then we have t' find a key fer the door." Bandit spoke, pointing out the obvious. "'nd, that'll take us a long time t' look fer a key, too."

Stephanie smirked a bit and stood up to her feet, walking over to the nearest wall.

"Watch me." She got up to the nearest wall there is, and with one slash of her paw, the web fell, revealing to be a door from the other side.

Stephanie perked a little in slight surprise, as she moved her paw back down on the ground.

"Well, lucky chance." Stephanie chuckled, before placing her paw against the door gently. "_Reserare._"

After she said that, the door clicked open, impressing Bandit and Banker, as he had his jaw dropped slightly again.

Stephanie removed her paw, allowing the door to open slowly.

She turned to the two, smirking as she pointed her paw at the door.

"Tada!" she giggled. "Now, that's easy for you two to find him, let me find my door."

She stood back up to her feet and walked away, before getting to another part of the walls, slashing at it with her claws and finding another door.

Stephanie repeated the same process that she did to Bandit's and Banker's door, placing her paw against it gently and said, "_Reserare._"

After she said that, the door clicked and opened slowly, revealing there was a hallway, and filled with small yarn cobwebs.

"Okay," Stephanie spoke, glancing over at Bandit and Banker. "I'll take this room because I have a strange feeling about it, while you two go in that room."

She ducked down a little and noticed that the room she had opened is not filled with cobwebs.

"If something is going on," Stephanie spoke, mentioning to the walkie-talkie she gave them. "Call me."

"Where is yours if you need to call us?" Bandit asked, mentioning to the walkie-talkie for her.

Stephanie mentioned to her left ear by tipping her head slightly towards them, flicking it slightly.

"Remember, you saw my ear metal?" Stephanie asked as they both nodded their heads, and she moved hers back into position. "Well," she paused as she cleared her throat. "_It can allow me to call through anything electronic, like that walkie-talkie of yours, Bandit._"

Bandit glanced down at his walkie-talkie in slight surprisement as Banker flinched from the sudden voice from the electronic, before glancing back over at Stephanie, as she cleared her throat again.

"So, I don't need no stinkin' walkie-talkie." Stephanie lightly joked, before chuckling. "Now, we better get going before something bad happens to Doc."

"Oh, right," Bandit remembered, before tipping his hat to Stephanie slightly, as she bowed slightly to him in response. "See you soon, Steph!"

After Stephanie bowed slightly to him, he walked through the door with Banker on his arm, as the door behind his back closed halfway.

Stephanie sighed and glanced at the door that she had opened last, wondering to herself for a moment.

She positioned herself and squeezed through the door, as it closed slightly behind her tail.

1


End file.
